Slip into my thoughts and do watch your step

Daily Archives: April 6, 2017

This has been a lousy week for writing, in that I haven’t felt much like writing. After the twelve hundred words I put out on Sunday I pretty much skipped a day and have only been putting out four and five hundred words a night. It’s not been easy.

Part of the struggle has had to do with the current scene. It’s involving a lot of rule and there is going to be a lot of action, and that always requires a lot of time on my behalf. I’m getting there, but slowly. Gotta trust me on this one, kids.

That said, it’s time to leave Chapter Ten behind. Maybe if I feel everyone’s hot breath on my back I’ll get to writing. In the preceding excerpts we learned about what Annie and Kerry were going to learn: however, Deanna has some things she doesn’t want them to do…

(The following excerpts from The Foundation Chronicles, Book Three: C For Continuing, copyright 2016, 2017 by Cassidy Frazee)

Deanna waited until everyone had a few calming sips of tea before she went on. “I am going to set down some ground rules and I want them followed. If they aren’t, this special class we’re having is going to come to an immediate halt and you’ll find your access to materials that could help you continue these studies on your own will stop.” She said her tea aside. “Do you both understand?”

Kerry gave a curt nod. “Understood completely.”

Deanna looked at Annie. “Do you understand?”

Annie did understand: Deanna was preventing them from learning anything about The Three Bindings and it would be easy to add certain elements of Astral Studies to that same restriction. “I understand and will do exactly as you say.”

Deanna set her hands in her lap and lean slightly forward. “Very well. Now, you went ahead and learned dreamwalking on your own even though I had asked that you not do that until this school year. Fortunately you haven’t encountered any issues, but that isn’t something I can guarantee with the spells you’re going to learn now, not with you having direct access to the Astral Realm through two of these spells.

“As far as Aura Readings are concerned, I expect you’ll start picking up on that spell quickly and you learn at your own pace. You’re even free to read up on it in the library as much as you like and you’ll find several books in the library here as well. This is the least dangerous of the spells will work on, as you may have guessed.

“We’ll go through the specifics on Astral Projection in class. For the first few attempts I want those to occur here under controlled conditions: I do not want you to try this on your own until you have an understanding of what is involved. I know the urge will be there, while you’re lying on your bed waiting to fall asleep, to attempt the spell, but I need you to resist that urge. I will let you know when I feel you’ve become proficient enough with the spell to go projecting on your own.

If there is one thing that Annie is known for among the instructors, it’s that she doesn’t wait. When she’s ready to learn something she get busy on that shit, which means if you ain’t willing to keep up, she’ll leave you behind.

That was how it was with Kerry that long ago day in the lower level of the Spells Center. They wanted to make charcoal and they were gonna make it happen using advanced magic, and you can bet if Kerry hadn’t been able to bring his skills to the table Annie wouldn’t have been a happy girl.

And with this next spell Deanna wants to make sure they know the rules–

“And lastly there’s Astral Walking—and under no circumstances do I want either of you attempting the spell on your own. Neither of you are to attempt this alone, and until I feel you’re ready to solo I don’t want you attempting it without me present. Of all the spells were going to learn this is the one that can kill you. You may be able to pull aside the Curtain on this side, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to open it from the other side. And if it’s your intention is to get over into the Astral Realm, have a quick look around, and then wait for The Phoenix to come to your aid and help you back to the Physical Realm—” Deanna rolled her eyes as she shook her head. “She’ll just as soon leave you there to die than help you return.”

She took a slow, calming sip of her tea as she allowed her students to absorb her words and understand the meanings. After about a minute she set her tea aside. “The majority of witches have no idea what it’s like on the other side of the Curtain. They think it’s a mystical, magical place, and in many ways it is: it’s beautiful in a way that’s indescribable. But it’s just as dangerous as it is beautiful and most witches forget this. The closest analogy I have about being in the Astral Realm is that it’s like going into the desert: standing on the edge it has this incredible beauty that never leaves you, but the moment you decide to head further into the desert, that’s when you begin setting yourself up for a great deal of hardship and even death. The desert can begin killing you before you even know you’re dying, and the Astral Realm is the same way.

“Once we enter the Astral Realm we have to know how to create armor and weapons; you have to learn how to work spells in ways that they don’t Backlash on you because you’re essentially crafting surrounded by mystical energy. And most of all you need to understand the rules of the Astral Realm. Just as the desert has rules, the Astral Realm has them as well. If you have insufficient knowledge of those, or if you ignore them completely, you could die.”

Deanna motioned to her left and three books levitated their way. “This is the first were going to use; this will help us with Astral Reading.” She suspended two of the books directly before her students, who eagerly snatch them out of the air. “These are school copies and as such I’d like you not to make notes in them. If you’d like to have your own copies we can stop at the library before dinner and have Trevor order them for you.”

She held her copy tight against her abdomen as she leaned forward once more. “Ready to learn how to read someone’s aura?” Annie and Kerry nodded simultaneously with smiles on their faces. Deanna sat upright and opened her book. “Then let’s begin.”

So the law had been laid down: no jumping the magical gun on any of these spells, particularly Astral Walking, or Deanna is gonna throw the both of them in Magical Jail and not let them study this stuff outside of class. And as Deanna has already thrown them in Three Bindings Jail, she’s the one instructor serious about locking them out when it comes to the advanced and possible dangerous magic.

And that’s it for Chapter Ten. Now we move on to Chapter Eleven and the start of one really big test…

What Has Gone Before

Check the Past by Date

It’s been a while since I’ve spoken with you. Perhaps speak isn’t the correct way to put things, but it works for me. In a way, I am speaking to you: I’m dictating this with Dragon software. It seems in the past couple of days Dragon has learned my idiosyncrasies far better than before, and […]